Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-06-30
AMONG THE PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Busy Hours I'm q Great Temple
of ElectTicity.

A busy scene was revealed when the
door opened. It was, indeed, small
village, for 500 operators were tapping
away ct racing speed. while $50 clerks
and messengers swiftly fitted to and fro.
ssThis il our day force" said MIR. Bren-
nan, the assistant manager. Ninety
others take their places at night. The
fifty you see up there in the gallery at
tend 10 the commercial news, ticker
service, stock reports, etc. They use
the Morse instruments.
"What proportion Of the force is com.
posed Of ladiesi"
''About one.fourth."
ssAre they as efficient as ment"
ssNot quite. Still, they are very ex-
pert. We have three married ladies.
Most Of the Wheatstone operators are
women"
Have you any colored operators!"
'sNot one; and 90 far as my knowledge
extends there is not colored operator
In the United States. At any rate, l
never heard of one"
"Who are the veterans OF the serv-
ics,"
swell, there are two that have been
at work for the company for quarter
Of . century. You see. we have but
very few gray or bald heads. The op.
orators begin work when they are about
10 or l6 years DID,"
"Where are your operator nurseries ?
'sIn the country. Nearly the entire
force took their first lessons in the offices
along the Erie, Pennsylvania and Hud-
son River railroads, and in the Eastern
States. Their ambition brings them
here. They get from $50 to $S5 pei
month, 2ccording to length of service,
efficiency and experience.
r(s'What are those culious instruments
ON which they are pounding with what
look like pegs?"
ssThose are the Whsatstone automatic
machines. It works st. Louis, Chicago
and New Orleans, and averages each cir
cult $500 to 5000 messages per day. The
peculiarly of the Wheatstone instrument
q that the message is first punched fol
Transmission, and then these punched
alps are passed through a transmitting
machine, which records each dot, dash
and space in the corresponding machine al
the other terminus. Each stroke of the
pegs represents q dot, dash or space
The messages received are printed Oh
chemically prepared paper and are trans
lated and printed by type writer's. The
Wheatstane machine has been in use
about four years. The operators aver
age about the same as the Morse opera
tors"
"what teams turn out the most mes
sages,"
s'The operators on the broker wires
The Chicago boad of trade and the
New York produce exchange handles
600 messages, while only 300 are handled
ON the main wires between the samt
cities. A broker firm cuts its message
- short q possible and sign the name Of
Brown, Batea & Brown, B. B. & j.,
while the name is given in general mes
sages. The cable messages are like
those brokers. and more can be handled
than of ordinary messages because Of
their shorsness.
show fast do the cables work: ~
"They 20 Just about as fast as an av
erage wire. We send q message anG
~ an answer from London in sever
minutes. The cables to England ant
the land line to San Francisco are jus
about the sape length, $3.50 miles,"
"You make both ends meet here, don
you."
''Oh, yes. The operator on the righ
works with Hearts Content, !, ,l0'
east, and the operator next to him talk
with Omaha, l 500 miles west. We hav,
. circuit with Jacksonville of l,l0t
miles, and one with Galveston of l,50(
miles"
"Are any Of the operators affected b!
the work."
"Yes. Some of them get the tele
grspher's oramp from holding the per
In one position for length of time. A
large number thus affected in their right
hands have learned to use their lef
instead"
''Do they ever get over it?"
mot thoroughly. The doctors have
just begun investigating it. Operators
saa prevent it by proper exercise. -